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Graham Hill's Lotus F1 car to make £1m at auction

The F1 Lotus 49 raced by Graham Hill is expected to bring between £700,000 and £1 million at auction

The legendary F1Lotus 49 raced by Graham Hill is to go up for sale. Introduced in the 1967 season, the race car is expected to fetch between £700,000 and £1million when it goes under the hammer in June.

Built on chassis number ’49-R8’, it was one of 12 cars and part of Gold Leaf Team Lotus’s motor racing armoury. It was also one of the first cars to be fitted with the Cosworth-Ford DFV 3.0-litre V8 engine, producing between 400bhp and 500bhp.

The Lotus 49 won its debut race, the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix, and this particular model helped Graham Hill win his second Formula 1 World Championship title in 1968. The car was also raced by Richard Attwood in the World Championship-qualifying 1969 Monaco Grand Prix, where it finished fourth and set the fastest lap of the race.

In 1970 the Lotus was sold to a private owner, called Dave Charlton, who clinched the first two of his six consecutive South African Formula 1 Championship titles with the Lotus 49. In 1972 the car was acquired in a damaged condition by Australian resident John Dawson-Damer, who restored the car to its current condition.

The Bonhams auction will take place at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 27 June.